It’s very, very early and Tickets There is trying very, very hard to stop collapsing onto the floor with tiredness. How can people do this? There is something very sick about a society that demands we be in work around 9. We’re Irish people, let’s quit all this American corporate shite and act like Irish people. That means we get up at 5.30am and start farming. What am I talking about? Don’t know.
Anywho, today’s review (which is the 50th MySpace Review – Ed.) is the first of five that will focus on the odd choices for this years Dublin Rocks! Festival. Despite the name, this first act credit themselves as Indie /Alternative / Electronica. Suppose a Rock’s out of the question but TT will embrace it all the same. Judge not lest ye be judged and all that. The band in question are called Alphastates. There’s four of them in it and their influences range from Bob Dylan to Kraftwork. Could be interesting.
As usual, we’ve never heard their album or seen them live.
Champagne Glass kicks things off and it’s very Depech Mode poppy. It’s a grower and keeps evolving as new beats start being introduced. It doesn’t sound Alternative ad it definitely isn’t rock. Just sounds like several other dance based pop songs you hear in 21 every night. The actual song isn’t too bad. Wouldn’t be our thing at all and we’d have no desire to stick around a ‘rock’ festival to hear it. Best of leaving this one to the clubbers. Would go down well with Cowboy X fans.
Taste is next it’s slightly less poppy and a little heavier. A lot of electronica, lot of downbeat tones mixed in with bleak sparseness. Again, not something for the folks looking for rock music from the Dublin Rocks! Festival but hey, not too bad for those of you who want to dance like motherfuckers (love that word, going to use it more often). It’s kind of like an industrial version of Coldplay. Trent Reznor singing Clocks and wearing his make trade fair bracelet…..while he repaints the door of 10050 Cielo Drive. Up next is the bands most played track, Human Nature. Not 100% sure what all the fuss is about, Champagne Glass is a much better tune. This one follows a more Killers style of song writing. Those repetitive beats, that fecking keyboard just play the same du, dun, du duun kind of melody over and over again to give the appearance of depth. Not a fan.
You Talked I Can Tell once again sees the band sticking to the same style we’ve heard on all the other tracks. Not a whole pile of diversity or change of any kind here. The keyboards stick out like sore thumbs and some of the affects sound like they came from cheap little children’s toys rather than a professional musicians keyboard. The chorus of You Talked I can Tell would be more appealing than the majority of the material we’ve heard so far. Let’s move along. Angel Kiss is second last and has more of a psychedelic kind of vide. Still hints of the dancin’ beats (for the motherfuckers), some nods to their industrial styled influences and less of an obvious ‘play me on the radio’ pop structure. It’s slow, doesn’t rush to hasten it’s self up and it’s quite down beat. Not bad, but a little plain.
Final song is The Record Machine and it sees the band returning to their radio friendly ways. Not a bad tune and probably our favorite. The singer changes her style a little in places and this only adds and improves the over all sound. Good chorus. TT likes it!
Well, too little to late? Not sure but we’ll be sure to give them another chance in the future and see if they can up the bar a little. Until next time. TT would recommend you check them out for yourself and not always rely on a fucking critic to tell you what’s good and what’s bad. Jesus man, get some pride and think for yourself for a change.
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